Mr. Tim Brickley - Business Academy

With 24 years of business teaching experience, though in his first year with Des Moines Public Schools and Central Campus, Tim Brickley loves to help students find their passion by giving them hands-on experience to grow their skills and turn their part-time interests into full-time careers. Along with teaching students, Mr. Brickley spent last summer as an extern with Des Moines Parks and Recreation Marketing department where he developed social media posts and promoted events and projects. Below are details regarding the Business Academy classes that are provided.

Want to learn how to start your own business, use social media to market your product or even invest in real estate? Central Campus’ Business Academy can help you do that and more. With classes open to all high school students grades 9 through 12 and no pre-requisites, find the classes that will take your earning to a higher level.

Here is a look inside each class:

Small Business Start-Up: How do you start a business? Using hands-on projects and simulations, students learn the tools to start their own businesses. They even draft business plans and pitch their ideas in competitions.

Entrepreneurship/E-Commence: Turn your hobby or interest into a side hustle that can earn you real money. Students in this class learn how to design and build out an e-commerce business. Each semester students compete for the best new business, pitching against students from across the nation. Students can also earn University of Iowa credit.

Accounting: How does money work inside a business? Accounting students work through the entire accounting cycle to understand how money makes the business world go. Students also compete in an accounting competition with the Iowa Association of Certified Public Accountants.

Investment and Real Estate: Want to make money? Using simulations and competitions, this class will teach you how to buy and sell real estate, and how to determine the right investments for your earning goals.

Content Marketing: Learn how to sell your own products or the products of a business. Hands-on projects and simulations give students practical experience to understand how marketing works.

Social Media Marketing: Learn why and how to use social media to sell products and businesses. Students can even become certified as a social media marketer through Stukent.com.

Follow the greenhouse on Facebook or Instagram: @CentralCampusHorticulture.

This segment will focus on ergonomics, a fancy term for body mechanics, positioning, and efficiency, specifically related to the workplace, but can be useful for anyone finding themselves in a prolonged position that could potentially adversely affect and/or put strain on muscles/joints/tendons of the arms, wrists, fingers, or neck.

Some key things to consider are if you feel pain, stop, and adjust. Stretch, reposition, and/or take a movement break. Aerobic activity helps sustain strength, improve cardio conditioning, and counteract strain of sedentary activities such as computer use. See below for other helpful tips and be good to yourself!

Posture And Positioning

• Maintain good posture, use a chair with back support while using a keyboard.
• Keep feet supported on floor/footrest reducing pressure on your lower back.
• Take 1–2-minute breaks incorporating stretches 3 times/hour if able.

Work Technique

• Alternate tasks to make changes in your working position to avoid making the same movements for prolonged periods of time.
• Relax fingers and knuckles when doing keyboard work.
• Lay pens/pencils down when typing.
• Hit the keys softly, studies have shown average users hit the keyboard 4X harder than necessary.
• Relax your grip on your mouse as well.
• Rest eyes by refocusing on distant objects every few moments.

Work Environment

• Keep keyboard, pointing device, files, and telephone within easy reach.

· Maximize comfort/efficiency by adjusting screen font, contrast, pointer size, speed and/or color.

• Position the monitor of your device so that:
1. Your neck is in a neutral or straight position centered directly in front of your monitor, slightly below the top of your head, so that you are looking with a slightly downward gaze.
2. Excessive glare or reflections from windows and/or lighting is lessened.

The ‘Pec Corner Stretch’ shown above is very therapeutic and can also be done in a doorway. Stretching should be relaxing, it is not meant to be painful. Adjusting your body while completing this stretch will vary your results, so I encourage you to experiment in finding what works to get your desired stretch.

For more information, check out this website from the University of Pittsburgh:

Ergonomic Tips for Computer Users | Environmental Health and Safety | University of Pittsburgh

Have a great day,

Nurse Jasmine Lester, BSN, RN 515-242-7779

Please reach out with any questions you have, email, call, or stop by.

Jasmine.lester@dmschools.org Office # 2503